Bioinformatics can broadly be defined as the interface between Computational and Life Sciences. It is a relatively new science whose development has been propelled by recent work such as the Human Genome Project, where the entire genetic information of the human has been laid out before scientists. The collosal amount of information arising from such projects means that in many areas of biological science, the challenge is no longer necessarily to acquire data, but rather to manage and interpret this data. The field of bioinformatics attempts to address this need, applying the latest smart mathematical algorithms and database techniques to gene sequence information, and drawing on innovative IT tools to automate many of these processes. Whilst originally a product of such genome analysis requirements, bioinformatics has gone on to widen its applicability, and now has an important role to play in the wider biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

As bioinformatics transcends the barriers between the Computing and Life sciences, drawing instead on the important synergies that are inherent in such multi-disciplinarity, it requires people with an understanding of both the computational and biotechnical aspects it encompasses. DCU's MSc in Bioinformatics has been designed specifically to produce graduates with such multidisciplinary skills.